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In the spirit of my first list, I am dedicating this 11List to my love of all things music. I graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Music Industry, and may or may not be mildly obsessed with making playlists (shocking, I know). Without further ado, here is a list of 11 awesome music apps that help you discover, listen and connect.

1. Spotify {Free/Paid}

Probably my most-used app. Spotify was introduced to the US in 2011 and is somewhat of a mix of iTunes and Pandora. You can create playlists, discover music and listen to “radio” stations all for free. The only catch is that without their Premium package (about $10/month), you’ll be stuck with the occasional ad interruption, and you won’t be able to stream on your mobile device.

2. Soundcloud {Free}

This app is definitely tied with Spotify as my favorite app. Soundcloud lets you stream tracks for free (on both your mobile device and computer). You can create specific playlists, or just “like” a song and it will be saved to a list. It’s also very social and has a stream, aka newsfeed, where people or artists you follow will have tracks recommended for you. Soundcloud is where you can find remixes and songs that aren’t on iTunes or Spotify- basically it rocks.

3. 8tracks {Free}

This app was only recently introduced to me by my good friend Blake. It is definitely a music discovery tool, where you can go in and pick what kind of “mood” you want to listen to. A favorite of mine is always “happy”/”summer”.

4. Pandora {Free/Paid}

Everyone and their mother knows about this app, but it’s still definitely deserving of a spot on this list. Totally a discovery tool, you can pick a station, which will then choose songs or artists with similar sounds. Another one where the premium package is nice because of no ads, but still works just as well without!

5. Shazam {Free}

Since I am the queen of music, I generally know most songs on the radio and used on television (just saying). But, when I don’t, I rush to my Shazam app and hold it as close as possible to the sound and it will pull up the song name and artists in usually less than 30 seconds. This only downside is that this app doesn’t seem to know really obscure songs. Can’t win em’ all…

6. Soundhound {Free}

Very similar to Shazam, but has a cool feature where you can try to hum or sing the tune, and the app might just recognize it. The app also has lyrics available of the song you’re checking out, which is a nice bonus if you’re into that kind of thing.

7. Songza {Free}

Songza is another app where you can set the music to your mood. If it’s Friday night and you’re going out, the app will generate a party playlist. If it’s Sunday morning and you’re just trying to relax, it will generate a more chill, low-key set.

8. iHeartRadio {Free}

This is one of the best apps for broadcasting live radio. You can find just about any station from coast to coast and listen to it in real-time.

9. Rdio {Free/Paid}

Another music discovery app, Rdio is described as a “jukebox with over 20 million tracks to play”. You can pay to upgrade some features, but even in free mode you can still steam full albums- I listened to Pharrell’s new album- not bad!

10. Bandsintown {Free}

This is a great app to find out what bands/artists are coming to your location for shows. If you connect the app to your facebook, it will scan artists you like and make it super easy to locate shows that you’re into. Definitely helpful when you’re trying to track down where in the world Justin Timberlake is…

11. Songkick {Free}

Last but not least, Songkick. Similar to Bandsintown, Songkick scans your music library (or your Spotify playlists-cool!) to track the artists that you’re into. From there, a list of concerts coming to your location is generated. You can purchase tickets for shows in the app, making it a super easy way to find and go to concerts.

Let’s start with the basics. Who am I? I am a recent grad from Northeastern University in Boston, and am a current marketing student at the Startup Institute in Boston. I am very creative by nature and enjoy a wide range of things. Most of my 11Lists will be dedicated to that range of things, from exercise to music to interior design and fashion to food. I couldn’t pick one topic to write about, so I am going to write about it all!

Why am I blogging, you ask?

Short answer: Branding

Long(er) answer: I recently embarked on a new journey to advance my career in marketing. I was accepted into Boston’s Startup Institute program, and realized that in order to make it in marketing, or pretty much anything having to do with business, I have to have a personal “brand”.

Branding yourself is a curious task. I never thought that I would be my own walking billboard for a Lindsey Peckham “brand”, but, as I’ve started the SIB program, I’m realizing that this is so important in the digital world we live in today.

It was really difficult for me to try to come up with a blogging concept because my interests are so broad. Which left me with the question-

How could I sum this up all into one blog without 1) thoroughly confusing or boring my readers, and 2) sounding like every other blog out there?

What I came up with is 11List. In the age where the BuzzFeed’s and EliteDaily’s of the world flood our social media newsfeeds, lists have become a popular way to grab attention and communicate a message in a quick, simple way.

I figured I would use this List concept and make my own lists of different topics that I enjoy. Hopefully I can spread some knowledge of a cool product, app or even recipe that someone will find useful (or delicious!)

Since I’m clearly not an expert in everything, I am hoping to have friends stop by and post their own 11List of topics they are passionate about. That way, there will be cool things on here for a wide range of people- not just ones who like baking or music playlists.

Okay, this doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, but…Why 11?

11 has been my lucky number for years, and it’s waaayy more exciting than the number 10- don’t you think? Who needs even numbers!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and if you have an 11List you want to write about, let me know- I’d be happy to it to my list of lists 😉